Heavy feelings following a dark week

The events involving the IDF in the Shejaia neighborhood in Gaza City, in the second half of last week, leave one with very heavy feelings.

In the first event, which occurred last Tuesday, nine Israeli fighters (several of high military rank) were killed, after four of them got trapped in a building/tunnel complex controlled by Hamas, which they had entered in the course of an operation, and contact with them was lost. Besides concern for the welfare of the four, there was also fear that they might be kidnapped. Successive teams of fighters tried to enter the complex to release the four, but each in turn appears to have fallen into traps laid for them by Hamas terrorists.

As mentioned above, the end result of the event was that nine Israeli fighters were killed, and no one was kidnapped. All the Hamas terrorists were also reported to have been killed. Of course, we do not know the details, only the very partial information released by the IDF. The optimistic news is that every effort was made to save, and/or prevent a kidnapping of, Israeli forces. The pessimistic news is that the whole maneuver cost nine Israeli lives – the original four fighters, and another five, who came to rescue them, and one cannot help wondering whether our men were really prepared for the degree of sophistication they came across.